Bottom posted.

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"Jim Anderson" wrote in message
et...
In article .com,
says...
I've tried several variations of the manual vac & pump/filter in an
interest to clean my tank a little more thorough. The best
configuration (so far) uses a whole house 30 micron filter insert
fitted to the input of a return pump in a 10gal plastic tote. The idea
was to vacuum into the tote and return the cleaned water to the tank
and allow smaller water changes. What I have works well for about 10
gallons. The filter plugs and I have to stop vacuuming. I've tried
cleaning the filter by reverse flow from the tap, with less than
spectacular results. At $5 a pair for the filters they cost too much to
replace. I thought about a sand or gravel filter but how would I clean
it? A new 30 micron filter works well for a few minutes, but leaves a
microscopic "cloud" in the water. The obvious solution would be to
use a 5 micron fine filter, but that'd plug sooner. Oh, I've also
tried using foam or paper towel as a prefilter. Any ideas?

Thanks

http://www.geocities.com/spiral_72/Spirals_page.html



I use the Marineland Magnum250, and 1 micron filter insert with the
Marineland vac attachment to vac the gravel, then change the water
removing the water with just a syphon hose, add my aged water using a
Maxi-Jet power head and hose. Then polish the water for an hour with the
Mag250.

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Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To eMail me, just pull "my_finger"

The magnum paragraph is almost exactly what I want to do for maintenance,
except I would use a magnum 350. Good luck and later!